


I Did Listen, Kid

by sunbean72



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker - Freeform, Tony Stark Has Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 13:17:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12299913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunbean72/pseuds/sunbean72
Summary: One shot of Tony's thought process in the moments after he confronts Peter and takes the Spider-Man suit back.





	I Did Listen, Kid

Tony kicked out the driver, telling him he would drive himself, that was the first clue. 

He should have realized then how angry he was and maybe a little reckless; but he didn't, he was only thinking of how driving fast sometimes cleared his head. That or flying, but he'd already spent time in the suit and was just begging for an electromagnetic headache if he used it again. And The Council disapproved of the recreational use of the armor, although they couldn't forbid it. All they could really do is frown upon it, and okay screw them they were his suits he could recreate all he wanted but he really didn't need a headache right now and he really didn't need to give them any more reason to disapprove either. 

The second clue that things were worse than usual this time was that driving fast did not help. He pushed the car faster and faster, the HUD flickering warnings and stats but he was mostly ignoring them and FRIDAY wisely kept silent. He pushed a little harder, perhaps going a bit faster than was strictly safe, even with his capabilities. And he could drive. Every other part of him, parceled out and sold to the highest bidder to keep what was left of his soul intact, but he could outdrive any one of them. The adrenaline only seemed to kick his spinning thoughts up to a faster pitch. It was like they were caught on repeat. The world sped by until it was just a blur, it was everything and nothing, it was outside him and he was no longer a part of it; he was a force in motion.

Inside his mind he was not so safe. He couldn't stop thinking about how actually fought with Peter, argued with him. He'd been the CEO of a multi-billion dollar corporation, dealt with military types, confronted UN councils and Senate hearings, yet his confrontation with Peter and taking away the suit agitated him more than any of those. He was shaken.

There was a possible reason _why_ he was so hot and bothered. He felt it circling in his mind, a bird caught in an updraft, but he wouldn't allow himself to think it. Whenever his mind went down that path, he'd immediately divert it, which was probably why he couldn't clear his head. 

He slammed suddenly on the breaks, skidding off the road in a cloud of dust. Fine, then. Fine. Just think it and be done. His hand shook and he put the car in park, rubbing his left wrist, where the pain in his arm always seemed to settle. It hadn't been the same since it was injured, it just wouldn't seem to heal. The engine making soft pinging sounds as it cooled off was the ony sound.

Peter had accidentally caused the ferry accident. Peter had almost gotten people hurt and killed. Peter had almost gotten hurt or killed. 

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the seat rest, trying to banish an image of May Parker's face if something happened to Peter. He'd once or twice broached the subject of May Parker with Peter; he'd been adamant that if Tony said anything to May the whole thing was off. He utterly refused to listen to anything different and Tony had backed off. It wasn't his place, exactly. He'd read all about Benjamin Parker, had done a little digging, had read between a few lines. 

_When you can do the things I do and you don't, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you._ Tony had been too busy thinking of what that meant for _him_ \-- that if he didn't stop the Avengers from falling apart and then they weren't there to stop the end of the world, the end of the world would be one him-- to think of what it meant for Peter. He'd had some time to contemplate it since then and it had been bothering him. Peter was too young to shoulder that kind of grief and guilt, so Tony had gotten him a better suit, fancier upgrades, so he would always be able to be safe and do the things he wanted to help other people.

He still had missed the bigger picture. He'd assumed that Peter would back down when Tony asked him to, trusting too much that Peter would do what he was told. Of course he wouldn't, not with a mindset of bad things happening because of him if he didn't intervene. Tony had been paying such close attention, had Karen and Happy and FRIDAY all keeping an eye on the kid, and still had completely missed the danger.

Peter. The people on the ferry. 

He was just so _angry._

The black eye the Winter Soldier had given him, breaking a blood vessel, had finally healed. Helen had helped him get the frostbite healed up. The cracked sternum and ribs, and cardiac contusion, compliments of Steve Roger's shield, had all be healed as well. Just the arm still hurt, everything else physically wrong with him from that day was well on its way to mended. Far more lasting was the damage to his trust, to his ability to ever see his way forward with a team again, to his hope for the future. Peter had started to worm his way through all that. Everything Happy had reported to him had only strengthened his pride and hope in the kid, in the possibility of a brighter future than the bleak and dark one he constantly had to fear for and worry about. He had actually thought maybe things were going to possibly be okay.

Then he finds out Peter had been putting himself in danger, had disobeyed his instructions, had disabled safety protocols on the suit. Had been keeping things from him. Had lied to him. 

Tony punched the steering wheel in frustration, his breathing ragged. 

Why was it... why... when everyone he... they were all just trying to protect each other. Protect the world. Protect friends, family, loved ones. Tony wanted to protect the world; then, Ultron. Protect Bruce and he was who the hell knows where. Protect Pepper and look at everything she'd been through. Steve wanted to protect Wanda, wanted to protect Bucky, wanted to protect Tony but that utterly blew up in his face. Did he see that? Wanda never got to redeem herself in the public's eye; she was much worse off now, thanks to Steve having her run. Bucky never got the psychiatric help he needed; T'Challah had kindly informed him the man was back on ice. Tony hadn't felt protected, he'd felt betrayed and devastated. He _hated_ Rogers right now. Probably pretty close to what Peter was feeling for Tony right now, actually.

It was beginning to seem to him that trying to protect someone or something (the earth, the Avengers as a team) was probably the surest way to cause its demise. Even Peter had been trying to protect May from more pain and sorrow, and he could see the cracks beginning to form in their relationship. Did Peter see it? Did May? Was there any way to stop it?

Why did he suddenly feel as if he were on the edge of a cliff he hadn't even known he was on? As if the safe and solid ground he'd assumed he was on was in truth a hair's breath away from falling, falling, into darkness, into the cold and careless void?

 _Get a grip,_ he told himself sternly. It wasn't as if he had a lot of choice. He had to keep trying. Didn't he? What, just stand back and let it all happen? Watch the world burn? It just wasn't in him. 

He just didn't know if he was strong enough to keep trying. That wasn't the same as giving up. Right? If you wanted to do something but you just didn't have the strength?

 _Stark men are made of iron,_ Howard Stark's voice echoed in his mind, and for once... for once it wasn't a condemnation. For once it wasn't condescending or berating. Maybe the BARF machine wasn't a complete waste of time. The past was immutable, but his perspective of it wasn't. Now that Tony had a small taste of what it felt like to be a parent to a rebellious teen, he was suddenly feeling a little bit more charitable to his old man. 

Who had, maybe, been trying to protect him. 

Had maybe, in his own twisted way, given him the brains and the strength to do what needed to be done. If nothing else, by showing him how _not_ to be.

Tony sighed, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel again. He was angry with Peter, still so angry but. 

He turned the car back on, taking a slow turn back toward home, toward the compound. He wasn't Howard Stark. Peter wasn't him. And Peter wasn't Steve Rogers. Or maybe he was, who knows? Rogers, Tony, Peter, Howard, Fury, all of them. They were all just trying to do their best to keep their friends, their world, safe. Maybe they couldn't be forgiven for the way they each went about it. Maybe none of them deserved forgiveness.

But maybe Peter deserved another chance.

He'd maybe been a little hasty, telling Peter he would take the suit back for forever. The truth was, he'd seen the kid was under too much pressure and had been planning on asking it back anyway, ostensibly to make some upgrades but really just to give him a break. This was a better excuse. Let the kid be a kid a while longer. There might be a time when he didn't have a choice, would have to be Spider-Man, but it wasn't now. He had Ned, he had May. He'd recover from this. They'd talk again in a few months.

His mind started whirling with thoughts again. But his anger, his disappointment, had eased somewhat. Peter had messed up big time, there was no doubt about that, but he was a good kid. In his mind, Tony could already picture a better suit for him; maybe one not made of fabric. If anyone had fired the alien weapons at him, he would have been poorly protected by the suit. What he needed was something more like an armor, but that would inhibit his natural abilities, his agility, and flexibility. Could he make a flexible armor? 

He thought he might be able to. 

Should he, though? Was this just another attempt at protection that would blow up in his face? Or should he move forward, trusting that Peter could become the person he needed to be in order to use such a suit? Could he become something without the suit so he could be trusted with something so powerful?

Only time would tell. But Tony decided he would move forward, just in case. 

Call it faith. Call it trust. Call it hope for the future. 

He was the Futurist, after all.


End file.
